Unnecessary Arguments

There are a few things that I believe in strongly enough where I think that the other side is just plain wrong. Global warming, for me, has quickly become one of those issues. Saving ourselves from rapid climate change must be one of our very highest priorities.

Some of the arguments from the other side are absolutely absurd. They don’t have anything to stand on, so they just start making shit up. Even those that agree that there is or might be global climate change argue that if we were to do something about it, it would ruin our economy.

And the rest of us give in to this argument. Not give in in terms of agreeing with it. But we give in when we even argue that at all. We let them change the argument. Now it isn’t about global climate change, it is about the economy. First of all, our footing isn’t nearly as steady when talking about the effect on the economy as it is when talking about science – things like CO2 emissions and temperature change. Even if it was as solid – What is the point? Our main argument is that we are putting ourselves at risk of massive flooding and millions of deaths worldwide. Who cares about the economy when faced with these prospects?

This post inspired by this post on ThinkProgress.

• Global warming… is it happening? Yes, most likely. Is it is caused by human activity, I don’t know. Is it naturally occurring and exasperated by human activity? I think that is where I come down on the topic.
  Climate change can and has been a naturally occurring phenomenon. I think we should focus on cooping with climate change not preventing it. That said, I like my clean, air and water and all that, “i.e. don’t foul the nest”. But if you worry about climate change I think you should focus on cooping, not preventing. The habits of millions and billions of people as well as Mother Nature are hard things to change. I do not hold much hope for that channel of action.

• I don’t think it is really practical to try to cope with massive flooding and weather changes over a few decades. We’re talking about whole metropolises that may go under water. And we’re talking about huge, huge changes in agriculture.

  We’ll have to change much less by significantly reducing our CO2 emissions than we will if several metropolises are put under water, and we face mass famine.

• I think what you describe is beyond the extreme of what could happen. Given decades people will get tired of getting flooded and move away from the water. Crops may fail to grow in some areas, but will improve in others (Canada). It is not like all of a sudden a wall of water will hit Manhattan and all of the corn in the center of the country will ignite into flames. Humans are adaptable. So it is getting warmer… we will adapt. Not to say that things might be uncomfortable and tragic at times, but life will go on amazingly similar to how it is now.